Perfectly timed choreographies, catchy songs with a diverse mix of genres, and indescribably attractive idols are some of the factors that have catapulted K-pop to its international famebecoming a phenomenon that earns South Korea about $12 billion a yearaccording to Forbes magazine.
Not even the time of the coronavirus pandemic could cloud the panorama of this industry, because during this harsh crisis the main entertainment agencies (Hybe Labels, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment) they continued to report revenue in the millions of dollars.
Such is the impact of K-pop that even the South Korean government knows that the hello hallyu (the “Korean wave”) is a fundamental piece for its economy, since the music and entertainment industry alone generates 114.7 million dollars quarterly in the trade balance.
Likewise, another of the sectors that has benefited from the recent popularity of this Asian country is tourism, since Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) reports that at least 796 thousand foreigners travel to South Korea every year influenced by K-popof which one in 13 did it for the group BTS, which shows that K-pop is a 100% profitable business.
In social networks the matter is not left behind either, because Twitter has become one of the main weapons through which the fandoms of the artists can talk about the latest music releases, the most shocking news, talk about various celebrities, etc.
Regarding its impact in the West, there are music platforms such as iTunes that have given space to K-pop, even creating their own daily rankings of the most popular songs in at least 39 countries, including Colombia.
Here is a list of the 10 most important songs of this day among Colombians:
1.
Artist: PSY
Song:Gangnam Style
two.
Artist: bts
Song: Butter (Sweeter Remix)
3.
Artist: ATEEZ
Song: Warfare
Four.
Artist: stray kids
Song: Mixtape : Time Out
5.
Artist: bts
Song: Life Goes On
6.
Artist: bts
Song: Yet To Come
7.
Artist: Girls’ Generation
Song: FOREVER 1
8.
Artist: MOONBIN&SANHA
Song: dive into you
9.
Artist: bts
Song: dynamite
10.
Artist: BTS & Megan Thee Stallion
Song: Butter (Megan Thee Stallion Remix)
How K-pop was born
Modern K-pop (from the English “Korean pop”) originated in the 1990s with the rise of the popular group Seo Taiji and Boys in 1992, known for incorporating Western music genres such as rap, hip-hop, rock, jazz, electronics and techno into their songs.
This trio, made up of Seo Taiji, Yang Hyun-suk and Lee Junomade his debut on an MBC network talent show with the song Nan Arayoshocking the jury, who gave them the lowest marks. However, the success that this single gained on radio and television was resounding, which gave way to the release of more songs of that style and more artists who bet on it.
It was not until 1995 when producer Lee Soo Man founded one of the companies that to date remain a “heavyweight” in the music industry, S Entertainment; while former Seo Taiji & Boys member Yang Hyun Suk created YG-Entertainment (nineteen ninety six); followed by JYPEntertainment (1997), established by singer Park Jin Young.
These three companies were long dubbed the “Big 3” ‒until the success that BTS achieved with BigHit Entertainment (now known as Hybe Labels)‒ and were dedicated to teaching the first generations of idolsin order to meet the demand of the Korean public to want to see younger artists.
Along this path, the HOT group was one of the first to debut in the industry, followed by others who made up the well-known “first generation of K-pop” like Sechs Kies, SES, Fin.KL, NRG, Baby VOX, Diva, Shinhwa and god
At the beginning of the new millennium, some of the groups of idols that had debuted were inactive while others like Baby Vox triumphed in various regions of Asia, an example of this their song song match which was promoted in the 2003 Soccer World Cup and which placed first on the Chinese music charts.
Along with others idols that were released as soloists also marked a milestone: Boathe first Korean singer to top the Oricon chart in Japan, a chart equivalent Billboard but Asian and in which rarely artists from other countries manage to enter and Rainan actor and singer who gave a concert for 40 thousand people in Beijing.
way to the top
I would start the call later “second generation of K-pop”again in the hands of groups that were made up of young figures such as TVXQ (debuting in 2003), SS501 (2005), Super Junior (2005), BIGBANG (2006), as well as girl groups like Wonder Girls (2007), girls generation (2007) and KARA (2007).
By 2008, South Korea was already leading the entertainment market in Asia with an annual growth rate of over 10% in exports of its music and television products with K-dramas, even accounting for 68% of the music market in Japan, ahead of China (11.2%) and the United States (2.1%).
Later, more groups like SHINee or INFINITYthe latter who managed to secure the record of being the first to top the list of emerging artists from Billboard in 2014 with his song Last Romeo; 2PM, EXO, 2IN1, all the way to the K-pop third generation where new groups such as BTS, Seventeen, GOT7, Twice, Red Velvet, BLACKPINK, MAMAMOO, among othersup to the present Fourth generation which are all those who debuted between 2017 and 2018 like Stray Kids, ITZY, Ateez, Astro and more.
It is worth mentioning that a watershed that should be considered is Gangnam Style of the rapper PSYa song that not only managed to break unimaginable records on music platforms like Youtubebut also went around the world and showed that language was not a barrier to success in highly competitive countries such as the American industry.
To date, the baton as the greatest exponents of K-pop is held by the group bts ‒composed of Suga, RM, Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, V and Jungkook‒, who in addition to dominating the music industry in South Korea and establishing their fame in the rest of the world, have been named “Asian trend leader” by The Economist and “Artists of the Year” by the magazine TIMEgoing through his nominations for the Grammy awards and his 10 awards Billboard.
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